Article 10: Meta Tags

by Bernie Howe
Copyright � 2005 by Bernard Howe.  All rights reserved.

Meta tags will not alter how your web page will view, but meta tags will help search facilities index your site, and what each page has within it.  Just as the title tags tells us what the title of our page is, the meta tag tells what our page is about and some of the key words that will be found on this page.  There are many different types of meta tags besides the keyword and description tags, for instance there is author, page update, robots, language, etc.

Many people just make a template and use the keywords and site description for the index (main) page, and every page made after that uses the exact same key words and description.  This is wrong.  It stops many of your pages from being indexed in the right category. 

An example: Let's say your site is about dogs.  Your keywords and description are about your dog.  Then, on a page about veterinarians, you use the same keywords--words that are not used on this page at all.  This will cut your chances of having this page listed in the proper category. 

One way to increase your presence in the search engines is with keywords.  And one way to add keywords to your site is to do it page by page.  Some keywords will be the same on page after page, but others will be page-specific.

There is a web site to help you with this task.  It will give you a good idea of how meta tags should be.  This site is called Meta Tag Analyzer.  This is not the only one out there, but it is a good one I came across.  There is also a keyword analyzer there; that is a big help in knowing how many searches there are for certain words.

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About The Author

Bernie Howe made his first Web page in 1998, and has been involved with accessibility and Web standards since then.  He is owner/designer of Keepsake Awards.

Professionally, Bernie has been in the construction trade since 1969, and is a project engineer/CAD manager for a construction firm that does maintenance for the high-tech industry. 

Bernie has been married since 1966, and has 2 children and 3 grandchildren.  He is also a cancer survivor, (he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1999).  He lives in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona.